Warrant: Woman dozed off before crashing into NCDOT workers on Beltline

A Morrisville woman told police that she fell asleep behind the wheel of her Toyota sedan on the afternoon of April 19 just before she ran off the Beltline and struck two state Department of Transportation workers, according to a search warrant application made public Wednesday.

Angela Renee Roland, 44, of 113 Barbee Road was going about 60 mph before she crashed into a highway construction truck parked on the shoulder, severing the legs of one of the workers. The state employees were collecting debris along the shoulder of the eastbound lanes of the Beltline near the Capital Boulevard exit, according to the search warrant, which investigators used to seize Roland’s mobile phone.

An officer detected the odor of alcohol on Roland, who told investigators that she had consumed four to five beers hours before the crash and had taken a sedative and anti-depressant. Police seized Roland’s phone to try to determine if she was using the device at the time of the crash, according to the search warrant.

Investigators used an earlier search warrant to seize the Toyota’s event data recorder which indicated that “there was no braking or deceleration five seconds prior” to the car ramming into the back of the truck, which had its emergency lights flashing. Police also said it appeared Roland did not perform any maneuver to avoid the collision, according to the warrant.

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One of the workers, Kelly Lewis of Garner, 46, was struck by Roland’s Toyota and knocked over a guardrail. The other, Darrick Bridges, 44, of Raleigh, was pinned between the car and the NCDOT truck, severing his legs, police said.

Police charged Roland with failing to move over for a parked construction vehicle. She was charged under a section of the state’s “move-over” law that applies to incidents involving death or serious injuries.